Methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations

ABSTRACT

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture to monitor media are disclosed. An example apparatus includes at least one memory, first instructions in the apparatus, and processor circuitry to execute the first instructions. The first instructions, when executed, are to: instruct a media provider to include second instructions in an application to create an instrumented application and receive data from a media device based on the media device executing the second instructions. The second instructions, when executed, are to cause the media device to: access configuration information to instruct the instrumented application on the media device to operate in at least one of a first mode or a second mode, the second mode different from the first mode; access a media identifier corresponding to a media presentation event when monitoring functionality is enabled on the instrumented application; determine a second identifier to identify at least one of the media device or a user of the media device when the monitoring functionality is enabled, the second identifier assigned by a first entity when the instrumented application is to operate in the first mode, the second identifier assigned by a second entity when the instrumented application is to operate in the second mode, the first entity separate from the second entity; and send the media identifier in association with the second identifier to the second entity when the monitoring functionality is enabled.

RELATED APPLICATION

This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/691,191, Filed on Nov. 21, 2019, and entitled “METHODS ANDAPPARATUS TO MONITOR MEDIA PRESENTATIONS”, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/636,203, filed on Jun. 28, 2017, andentitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR MEDIA PRESENTATIONS”, whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/963,737, filedon Aug. 9, 2013, and entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR MEDIAPRESENTATIONS”, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/813,019, which is entitled “METHODS ANDAPPARATUS TO MONITOR MEDIA PRESENTATIONS” and was filed on Apr. 17,2013. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/691,191, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/636,203, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/963,737, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/813,019 arehereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to monitoring media and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, media devices have been provided with Internetconnectivity and the ability to retrieve media from the Internet. Assuch, media exposure has shifted away from conventional methods ofpresentation, such as broadcast television, towards presentation viaconsumer devices accessing the Internet to retrieve media for display.

Media providers and/or other entities such as, for example, advertisingcompanies, broadcast networks, etc. are often interested in the viewing,listening, and/or media behavior of audience members and/or the publicin general. The media usage and/or exposure habits of audience membersas well as demographic data about the audience members is collected andused to statistically determine the size and demographics of an audienceof interest.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system constructed in accordancewith the teachings of this disclosure to monitor media presentations.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the exampleinstrumented application of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an alternate example implementation of theexample instrumented application of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the exampleaudience measurement entity of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 5 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the system of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example instrumentedapplication of FIGS. 1, 2 , and/or 3.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example audiencemeasurement entity of FIGS. 1 and/or 4 .

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example processor platform capable ofexecuting the example machine-readable instructions of FIGS. 5, 6 ,and/or 7 to implement the example instrumented application of FIGS. 1, 2, and/or 3, and/or the example audience measurement entity of FIGS. 1and/or 4 .

The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same referencenumbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying writtendescription to refer to the same or like parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Monitoring companies desire to gain knowledge on how users interact withmedia devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart televisions,etc. In particular, the media monitoring companies want to monitor mediapresentations made at the media devices to, among other things, monitorexposure to advertisements, determine advertisement effectiveness,determine user behavior, identify purchasing behavior associated withvarious demographics, etc.

As used herein, the term “media” includes any type of content and/oradvertisement delivered via any type of distribution medium. Thus, mediaincludes television programming or advertisements, radio programming oradvertisements, movies, web sites, streaming media, etc. Examplemethods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture disclosed herein monitormedia presentations at media devices. Such media devices may include,for example, Internet-enabled televisions, personal computers,Internet-enabled mobile handsets (e.g., a smartphone), video gameconsoles (e.g., Xbox®, PlayStation® 3), tablet computers (e.g., aniPad®), digital media players (e.g., AppleTV®, a Roku® media player, aSlingbox®, etc.), etc. In some examples, media monitoring information isaggregated to determine ownership and/or usage statistics of mediadevices, relative rankings of usage and/or ownership of media devices,types of uses of media devices (e.g., whether a device is used forbrowsing the Internet, streaming media from the Internet, etc.), and/orother types of media device information. In examples disclosed herein,monitoring information includes, but is not limited to, mediaidentifying information (e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes,signatures, watermarks, and/or other information that may be used toidentify presented media), application usage information (e.g., anidentifier of an application, a time and/or duration of use of theapplication, a rating of the application, etc.), and/or device and/oruser-identifying information (e.g., a username, a media access control(MAC) address, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, an Apple ID, apanelist identifier, etc.).

Media devices such as tablet computers (e.g., an Apple iPad®, an AsusTransformer™, etc.) present media using applications (sometimes referredto as “apps”) that access, retrieve, request, and/or present media(e.g., Internet media). Many different “apps” exist and can bedownloaded by users through app stores such as, for example, AppleiTunes®, Google Play®, etc. Hundreds, if not thousands, of apps areavailable in the app stores that enable presentation of media. In someexamples, “apps” can be downloaded and/or installed from a locationother than an app store such as, for example, a website, a memory device(e.g., an SD card, a CD-ROM, etc.). Examples of such applicationsinclude, but are not limited to, Hulu®, Netflix®, HBO Go®, etc.

Operating systems used on media devices are often closed platforms. Thatis, the operating systems provide a limited set of functions thatapplications executed by the media device can access via, for example,an Application Programming Interface (API). In some examples, apps haveaccess to a limited set of functionality for sharing data with otherapps and/or retrieving information from the operating system of themedia device. For example, applications may have access to a usernameused on the device (e.g., an Apple ID), applications may have access toa device identifier (e.g., a MAC address), etc.

Traditionally, audience measurement entities (also referred to herein as“ratings entities”) determine demographic reach for advertising andmedia programming based on registered panel members. That is, anaudience measurement entity enrolls people that consent to beingmonitored into a panel. During enrollment, the audience measuremententity receives demographic information from the enrolling people sothat subsequent correlations may be made between advertisement/mediaexposure to those panelists and different demographic markets. Theaudience measurement entity then sets and/or retrieves a user and/ordevice identifier so that subsequent impressions related to the panelistcan be associated with the panelist and/or the demographics of thepanelist. In exchange for providing detailed demographic information,panelists are sometimes provided with incentives (e.g., apps, giftcards, cash, entry into a raffle and/or drawing, etc.). Accordingly,having a large panel can sometimes become cost prohibitive.

Use of panelist identifiers and/or demographic information associatedwith individual panelists is sometimes referred to as panelist stylemeasurement. In examples disclosed herein, panelist style measurementrefers to measuring and/or monitoring a group of users smaller than, butrepresentative of, a larger population of users. For example, a panelmay include ten thousand users, while the entirety of users may be onemillion. Records received in association with the ten thousand panelistsare extrapolated to form a projected representation of the entirety ofusers. For example, if the panel of ten thousand panelists resulted infive hundred measured exposures to a particular media, extrapolation mayidentify that for one million users there were fifty thousand exposuresto the particular media.

Unlike traditional techniques in which audience measurement entitiesrely solely on their own panel member data to collect demographics-basedaudience measurement, example methods, apparatus, and/or articles ofmanufacture disclosed herein enable an audience measurement entity torequest demographic information from other entities that operate basedon user registration models. In some examples, data collected using auser registration model is referred to as census style measurementbecause the database involved is so large. In examples disclosed herein,census style measurement refers to the measurement of all orsubstantially all of the users. In examples disclosed herein, collectionof records (e.g., records of media exposure) in association with all orsubstantially all users reduces and/or eliminates the need to performany extrapolation to represent all users and/or user activity.

As used herein, a user registration model is a model in which userssubscribe to services of those entities by creating an account andproviding demographic-related information about themselves. Sharing ofdemographic information associated with registered users of databaseproprietors enables an audience measurement entity to extend orsupplement their panel data with substantially reliable demographicsinformation from external sources (e.g., database proprietors), thusextending the coverage, accuracy, and/or completeness of theirdemographics-based audience measurements. Such access also enables theaudience measurement entity to monitor persons who would not otherwisehave joined an audience measurement panel.

Any entity having a database identifying demographics of a set ofindividuals may cooperate with the audience measurement entity. Suchentities may be referred to as “database proprietors” and includeentities such as wireless service carriers, mobile software/serviceproviders, social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,Google, etc.), online retailer sites (e.g., Amazon.com, Buy.com, etc.),and/or any other Internet site that maintains user registration records(e.g., Yahoo!, MSN, Apple iTunes, Experian, etc.) There are manydatabase proprietors operating on the Internet. These databaseproprietors provide services to large numbers of subscribers. Inexchange for the provision of the service, the subscribers register withthe proprietor. As part of this registration, the subscribers providedetailed demographic information. The database proprietors, as part ofthe use of an application of the database proprietor (e.g., a Facebookapp, a twitter app, etc.) have access to and/or collect the user and/ordevice identifier from the media device.

In contrast to demographic information received when enrolling panelists(where a panelist is aware of their sharing of demographic informationwith the audience measurement entity), demographic information retrievedfrom a database proprietor also comes with data privacy concerns(because users may be unaware of the sharing of such information). Tothat end, users may approve or prevent the sharing of demographicinformation on the part of the database proprietor. Further, to protectthe identities of individuals, demographic information may, in someexamples, be provided in the aggregate. For example, demographicinformation may only be returned when one hundred or more user and/ordevice identifiers are provided to the database proprietor. As describedherein, users and/or application publishers may select whether theirdemographic information may be collected from database proprietorsindividually and/or in the aggregate.

In further contrast to demographic information received when enrollingpanelists (where the panelist is requested to provide very detaileddemographic information to the audience measurement entity), thedemographic information collected by the database proprietor may not bevery detailed. For example, the database proprietor might not requestdemographic information related to the user's income, the user'sinterests, the user's race, etc. Furthermore, different databaseproprietors may request and/or store different information from theuser. For example, a social media database proprietor may storedemographic information related to user's race, interests, location,etc. while a credit reporting database proprietor may store demographicinformation related to a user's financial information (e.g., income,credit score, etc.).

In some examples, to increase the likelihood that measured viewership isaccurately attributed to the correct demographics, example methods,apparatus, and/or articles of manufacture disclosed herein use userinformation located in the audience measurement entity's records (e.g.,panelist information) as well as user information located at one or moredatabase proprietors (e.g., web service providers) that maintain recordsor profiles of users having accounts therewith. The database proprietorsalso store the user and/or device identifier, thereby enablingdemographic information to be queried from the database proprietor basedon the user and/or device identifier. In this manner, example methods,apparatus, and/or articles of manufacture disclosed herein may be usedto supplement user information maintained by a ratings entity (e.g., anaudience measurement company such as The Nielsen Company of Schaumburg,Ill., United States of America), that collects media exposuremeasurements, demographics, and/or other user information with userinformation from one or more different database proprietors (e.g., webservice providers). To that end, some database proprietors may onlyprovide demographic information concerning users to the ratings entityin the aggregate, whereas others may provide demographic information onan individual basis. A database proprietor provides demographicinformation on an aggregate basis when demographic information isprovided only if such demographic information is requested inassociation with a threshold number of users. For example, aggregateddemographic information may be provided when there are more than onehundred users identified in the request. However, any other thresholdamount of users may additionally or alternatively be used. In contrast,demographic information provided on an individual basis is provided whena single user is identified in the request for demographic information.Whether to provide the demographic information to the ratings entity inthe aggregate or individually may be determined by the databaseproprietor for any reason such as, for example, privacy laws in thejurisdiction of the database proprietor, business factors, technicallimitations, etc.

The ratings entity may determine which database proprietor to requestdemographic information from based on which database proprietor(s)provide data in the aggregate versus which database proprietor(s)provide data on an individual basis. In examples where the databaseproprietor provides data in the aggregate, the ratings entity requestsdemographic information by supplying a threshold number of useridentifiers to the database proprietor. In some examples, the databaseproprietor may not have information for each of the user identifiers. Insome such examples, the database proprietor may indicate which useridentifiers are not included in the aggregated demographic information.If the user and/or application publisher associated with that record hasgranted permission to request demographic information on an individualbasis, the ratings entity may then re-request demographic informationconcerning those user identifiers from another database proprietor.Alternatively, the ratings entity may request the demographicinformation in the aggregate from another database proprietor thatprovides demographic information on an aggregate basis.

The use of demographic information from disparate data sources (e.g.,demographic information from the panels of an audience measurementcompany and/or registered user data of web service providers) results inimproved reporting effectiveness of metrics for both online and offlineadvertising campaigns. Example techniques disclosed herein use onlineregistration data to identify demographics of users to track quantitiesof impressions attributable to those users. As used herein, animpression refers to an exposure to media (e.g., content and/or anadvertisement). In Internet advertising, a quantity of impressions orimpression count is the total number of times an advertisement oradvertisement campaign has been accessed by a web population (e.g.,including the number of times accessed as decreased by, for example,pop-up blockers and/or increased by, for example, retrieval from localcache memory). Unique impression counts eliminate duplicate exposuresand, thus, only count one exposure per person.

In examples disclosed herein, a software development kit (SDK) isprovided to application developers from, for example, an audiencemeasurement entity or other entity. The SDK facilitates instrumentingand/or otherwise enabling applications (e.g., media applications (suchas streaming video applications), news applications, browserapplications, image applications, social media applications, games,etc.) with monitoring functionalities which are able to collect andtransmit monitoring information (e.g., a user and/or device identifier,a media identifier, etc.) to a monitoring entity (e.g., the audiencemeasurement entity). In particular, the application developers createapps that include media monitoring functionality using the SDK.Accordingly, rather than relying on a dedicated monitoring applicationinstalled on a panelist computer (e.g., a tablet, a laptop, asmartphone, etc.), instrumented applications disclosed herein areinstrumented with monitoring instructions such that the instant appseffectively monitor themselves and/or user interaction(s) with theinstrumented apps. In some examples, the instrumented application isreferred to as a monitoring enabled application. Because theinstrumented applications monitor themselves, the instrumentedapplications and/or the monitoring functionality provided by the SDKenables the instrumented application to, for example, notify themonitoring entity (e.g., the audience measurement entity) when an appand/or media associated with the app is presented, notify the monitoringentity (e.g., the audience measurement) entity what media and/or app(s)is presented, notify the monitoring entity (e.g., the audiencemeasurement entity) how the apps and/or media is being presented (e.g.via a tablet display, via a television, etc.), notify the monitoringentity (e.g., the audience measurement entity) of a duration of exposureof an app and/or media associated with the app, etc. In some examples,the media monitoring functionality may be triggered by, for examplepresentation of a media element such as, for example, a video, audio,and image, etc.

Consider, for example, a media application instrumented with monitoringfunctionality. Assume the instrumented application has been downloadedand/or otherwise installed on a media device (e.g., via purchase in anapp store). During operation of the instrumented media application, themedia application identifies a user and/or device identifier as well asan identifier of media presented by the media application, and transmitssuch information to the audience measurement entity.

Since most of the clients providing monitoring information are notpanelists and, thus, are unknown to the audience measurement entity (andidentified by only the user and/or device identifier), it isadvantageous to integrate demographic information retrieved from thedatabase proprietors to more accurately monitor the population of usersproviding data for the identified media.

Examples disclosed herein leverage the existing databases of databaseproprietors to collect more extensive demographic data and/or user datafor associating with media impressions tracked on devices that executeapps. However, the audience measurement entity is faced with severalproblems in accomplishing this end. For example, a problem is presentedas to how to access the data of the database proprietors withoutcompromising the privacy of the subscribers, the panelists, or theproprietors of the tracked media. Another problem is how to access thisdata given the technical restrictions imposed by app software platformsof mobile and/or media devices.

Example methods, apparatus and/or articles of manufacture disclosedherein enable tracking media impressions for media presented by appsthat execute on media devices (e.g., portable media devices, iOS mediadevices, etc.). In this manner, a monitoring entity (e.g., an audiencemeasurement entity (AME)) can track media impressions on media devices.

Example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture disclosed hereincan be used to determine media impressions, content impressions,advertisement impressions, content exposure, and/or advertisementexposure using user information, which is distributed across differentdatabases (e.g., different website owners, service providers, etc.) onthe Internet. Not only do example methods, apparatus, and articles ofmanufacture disclosed herein enable more accurate correlation ofInternet media exposure to user (e.g., demographics) information, butthey also effectively extend panel sizes and compositions beyond personsparticipating in the panel of a monitoring entity (e.g., an audiencemeasurement entity and/or a ratings entity) to persons registered inother Internet databases such as the databases of wireless servicecarriers, mobile software/service providers, social medium sites (e.g.,Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.), and/or any other Internet sites suchas Yahoo!, MSN, Apple iTunes, Experian, etc. This extension effectivelyleverages the media exposure tracking capabilities of a monitoringentity (e.g., the audience measurement entity) and the use of databasesof non-AME entities such as social media and/or other websites to createan enormous, demographically accurate panel that results in accurate,reliable measurements of exposures to media such as advertising and/orcontent (e.g., programming).

Although the following examples refer to an audience measurement entity,any monitoring entity may fill this role. FIG. 1 is a block diagram ofan example system constructed in accordance with the teachings of thisdisclosure to monitor media presentations. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 1 , to track media impressions on a media device 106, an audiencemeasurement entity (AME) 108 partners with or cooperates with an apppublisher 110 to download and install an instrumented application 114 onthe media device 106. In the illustrated example, the AME 108 provides(block 109) a software development kit (SDK) to the app publisher 110.The SDK of the example of FIG. 1 is a set of development tools (e.g.,libraries (e.g., dynamically linked libraries (DLLs)), applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs), instructions, etc.) that enable the apppublisher 110 to integrate monitoring functionality into theinstrumented application 114. In examples disclosed herein, themonitoring functionality enables identification of a user and/or deviceidentifier 124, as well as identification of a media ID 122 associatedwith presented media 118. The app publisher 110 of the illustratedexample may be a software app developer that develops and distributesapps to media devices and/or a distributor that receives apps fromsoftware app developers and distributes the apps to media devices. Theapp publisher 110 provides (block 111) the instrumented application toan app source 112.

The example app source 112 of the illustrated example of FIG. 1 is anapp store such as, for example, the Apple iTunes® app store. In theillustrated example, the app source 112 provides applications (e.g.,apps) to users for use on their media device (e.g., media device 106such as, for example, an iPad®). While in the illustrated example, theexample app source 112 is the Apple iTunes® app store, any other appsource, app store, and/or repository of applications/apps mayadditionally or alternatively be used such as, for example, Google Play,the Windows Phone app store, the Ubuntu Software Center, a website, etc.

The example media device 106 of the illustrated example shown in FIG. 1is a device that retrieves media from a media publisher 120 forpresentation. In some examples, the media device 106 is capable ofdirectly presenting media (e.g., via a display) while, in otherexamples, the media device 106 presents the media on separate mediapresentation equipment (e.g., speakers, a display, etc.). Thus, as usedherein a “media device” may or may not be able to present media withoutassistance from a second device. Media devices are typically consumerelectronics devices. For example, the media device 106 of theillustrated example is a tablet such as an Apple iPad®, and thus, iscapable of directly presenting media (e.g., via an integrated displayand speakers). While in the illustrated example, a tablet is shown, anyother type(s) and/or number(s) of media device(s) may additionally oralternatively be used. For example, Internet-enabled mobile handsets(e.g., a smartphone, an iPod®, etc.), video game consoles (e.g., anygeneration of Xbox®, PlayStation®, etc.), tablet computers (e.g., aniPad®, a Motorola™ Xoom™, etc.), digital media players (e.g., a Roku®media player, a Slingbox®, a Tivo®, etc.), smart televisions, etc. mayadditionally or alternatively be used.

Media devices such as the media device 106 of FIG. 1 traditionallyinclude a data store 119 (e.g., a memory) for storing media and/orapplication executables. The example data store 119 of the illustratedexample of FIG. 1 may be any device for storing data such as, forexample, flash memory, magnetic media, optical media, etc. In theillustrated example, the data store 119 is random access memory of themedia device 106. Furthermore, the data stored in the data store 119 maybe in any data format such as, for example, binary data, comma delimiteddata, tab delimited data, structured query language (SQL) structures,etc. While in the illustrated example the data store 119 is illustratedas a single database, the data store 119 may be implemented by multipledatabases, and/or be stored in multiple memory locations of the mediadevice.

In the illustrated example, to download and install the instrumentedapplication 114 on the media device 106, a user of the media deviceinstructs the media device 106 to retrieve the instrumented application114 from the app source 112. The app source 112 locates the requestedinstrumented application 114, and transmits (block 113) the instrumentedapplication 114 to the media device 105 for installation. In someexamples, the app source 112 and/or media device 106 may first obtainthe consent of a user of the media device 106 to participate in a mediatracking program before installation of the instrumented application114. Such consent may confirm that the user is aware of the capabilitiesof the instrumented application (e.g., access to a user and/or deviceidentifier, the ability to identify media presented within theapplication, the ability to transmit monitoring information to theaudience measurement entity, etc.)

In the illustrated example, the instrumented application 114 is a mediaapplication such as, for example Hulu®, Netflix®, HBO Go®, etc. However,any other type of application may additionally or alternatively beinstrumented such as, for example, a game (e.g., Angry Birds®, Cut theRope®, etc.), a social media application (e.g., Facebook, Twitter,etc.), etc. The media device 106 (e.g., via the instrumented application114 and/or another application of the media device 106) presents media118 received from a media publisher 120. The media 118 may be anadvertisement, video, audio, text, a graphic, a web page, news,educational media, entertainment media, or any other type of media. Inthe illustrated example, the instrumented application 114 identifies themedia 118 by identifying a media ID 122 provided in and/or inassociation with the media 118. In examples disclosed herein, the mediaID 122 is an ID3 tag including media-identifying metadata,source-identifying metadata, etc.

In the illustrated example, the AME 108 provides media monitoringfunctionality (e.g., via the SDK) to the app publisher 110 for packagingwith the instrumented application 114. In some examples, the apppublisher 110 provides the media monitoring functionality as a programseparate from the instrumented application 114. In other examples, theapp publisher 110 compiles or otherwise includes the media monitoringfunctionality in the instrumented application 114 rather than installingmedia monitoring functionality as a program separate from theinstrumented application 114.

As further described in connection with FIGS. 2 and/or 3 , the mediamonitoring functionality of the instrumented application 114 includesinstructions (e.g., Java, java script, or any other computer language orscript) that, when executed by the media device 106, cause the mediadevice 106 to collect and/or otherwise identify the media ID 122 of themedia 118 presented by the instrumented application 114 and/or the mediadevice 106, and to collect one or more user and/or device identifier(s)124 stored in the data store 119 of the media device 106. The userand/or device identifier(s) 124 of the illustrated example includeidentifiers that can be used by corresponding ones of the partnerdatabase proprietors 104 a-b to identify the user or users of the mediadevice 106, and to locate user information 102 a-b corresponding to theuser(s). For example, the device/user identifier(s) 124 may includehardware identifiers (e.g., an international mobile equipment identity(IMEI), a mobile equipment identifier (MEID), a media access control(MAC) address, etc.), an app store identifier (e.g., a Google AndroidID, an Apple ID, an Amazon ID, etc.), an open source unique deviceidentifier (OpenUDID), an open device identification number (ODIN), alogin identifier (e.g., a username), an email address, user agent data(e.g., application type, operating system, software vendor, softwarerevision, etc.), third-party service identifiers (e.g., advertisingservice identifiers, device usage analytics service identifiers,demographics collection service identifiers), cookies, etc. In someexamples, fewer or more device/user identifier(s) 124 may be used. Inaddition, although only two partner database proprietors 104 a-b areshown in FIG. 1 , the AME 108 may partner with any number (e.g., 1, 2,3, 4, etc.) of partner database proprietors to collect distributed userinformation (e.g., the user information 102 a-b). In examples disclosedherein, the database proprietors 104 collect and/or establish the deviceand/or user identifier 124 via, for example, an application associatedwith the database proprietor 104, a user registration process where auser of the media device 106 provides the device and/or user identifier124, etc.

In the illustrated example, the device/user identifier 124 is set by amanufacturer and/or operating system provider of the media device 106.For example, the device/user identifier 124 for an iOS device (e.g., anApple iPad®, an Apple iPhone®, etc.) may be an Apple ID, set by Apple,Inc. for use with the Apple iTunes app store (e.g., the app source 112).That is, in some examples, the device/user identifier is not set by thedatabase proprietor 104, and is not set by the audience measuremententity 108.

In some examples, the types of device/user identifiers 124 are differentfrom device to device depending on the type of device, the manufacturerof the device, the software installed on the device, etc. For example, amedia device having cellular 2G, 3G, and/or 4G capabilities will have anassigned IMEI number. However, a media device capable of Wi-Fi, but nothaving cellular communication capabilities, will not have an IMEInumber. As such, one or more other parameter(s) of the Wi-Fi mediadevice may be used as the device/user identifiers 124. Such otherparameters may include, for example, a MAC address, a login ID, or anyother identifier or information available to the Wi-Fi capable deviceand that is not specific to cellular communications.

By being able to select or access multiple different types ofdevice/user identifiers 124, the AME 108 increases the opportunities forcollecting corresponding user information. For example, the AME 108 isnot tied to requesting user information from a single source (e.g., onlyone of the partner database proprietors 104 a-b). Instead, the AME 108can leverage relationships with multiple partner database proprietors(e.g., the partner database proprietors 104 a-b). If one or some partnerdatabase proprietors are unable or become unwilling to share user data,the AME 108 can request the user data from one or more other partnerdatabase proprietor(s).

In some examples, the media device 106 may not allow access toidentification information stored in the media device 106. For suchinstances, the disclosed examples enable the AME 108 to store anAME-provided identifier (e.g., an identifier managed and tracked by theAME 108 such as a panelist identifier) in the media device 106 to trackmedia impressions on the media device 106. For example, the AME 108 mayprovide instructions in the instrumented application 114 to set anAME-provided identifier (e.g., a cookie, a register, etc.) in memoryspace (e.g., the memory 119) accessible by and/or allocated to theinstrumented application 114. In such examples, the AME-providedidentifier set by the instrumented application 114 persists in the datastore 119 (e.g., a memory) even when the instrumented application 114 isnot running. In this manner, the same AME-provided identifier can remainassociated with the media device 106 for extended durations. In someexamples in which the instrumented application 114 sets an identifier inthe media device 106, the AME 108 may recruit a user of the media device106 as a panelist, and may store user information collected from theuser during a panelist registration process and/or may collect suchinformation by monitoring user activities/behavior via the media device106 and/or any other device used by the user and monitored by the AME108. In this manner, the AME 108 can associate user information of theuser (from panelist data stored by the AME 108) with media exposuresattributed to the user on the media device 106.

In the illustrated example, the instrumented application 114 sends(block 116) the media ID 122 and the one or more device/useridentifier(s) 124 as collected data 126 to the AME 108. Alternatively,the instrumented application 114 may be configured to send the collecteddata 126 to another collection entity (other than the AME 108) that hasbeen contracted by the AME 108 or is partnered with the AME 108 tocollect media ID's (e.g., the media ID 122) and device/user identifiers(e.g., the device/user identifier(s) 124) from media devices (e.g., themedia device 106). For example, the collected data 126 may betransmitted to a collection facility and then forwarded (e.g., proxied)to the AME 108. After receiving the collected data 126, the AME 108sends (block 117) the received device/user identifier(s) 124 tocorresponding partner database proprietors (e.g., the partner databaseproprietors 104 a-b) as part of a request for user information (e.g.,the user information 102 a-b) corresponding to the device/useridentifier(s) 124 so that the AME 108 can associate the user informationwith corresponding media impressions of media (e.g., the media 118)presented at media devices (e.g., the media device 106).

While in examples disclosed herein the instrumented application 114transmits the collected information directly to the AME 108, thecollected information may be transmitted to the AME 108 in any otherfashion. For example, collected information may be transmitted to thedatabase proprietor 104 from the mobile device 106, and thenperiodically transmitted to the AME 108 by the database proprietor 104.Further, any other third party (e.g., the app publisher 110, the mediapublisher 120, etc.) may be involved in the transmission of thecollected data 126 to the AME 108.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the exampleinstrumented application 114 of FIG. 1 . FIG. 3 is a block diagram of analternate example implementation 115 of the example instrumentedapplication 114 of FIG. 1 . The instrumented applications 114, 115 ofthe illustrated examples of FIGS. 1, 2 , and/or 3 are implemented assoftware downloadable via the Internet. As such, it is implemented ascomputer-readable instructions which may be executed on a logic circuitsuch as a hardware processor of the media device 106. In the illustratedexample, the instrumented application 114, 115 is provided by the appsource 112. However, the instrumented application 114, 115 may beprovided by any other entity. In some examples, the instrumentedapplication is installed on the media device 106 by the user bydownloading the instrumented application 114, 115 from the app source112 (e.g. Apple iTunes, Google play, etc.).

The instrumented application 114 of the illustrated example of FIG. 2does not present media itself, but rather, interfaces with anotherapplication of the media device 106 to present media. In contrast, theinstrumented application 115 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3presents media retrieved from the media provider 110 via a mediapresenter 310.

In examples disclosed herein, the instrumented application 114, 115 isimplemented to include monitoring functionality provided by themonitoring entity via, for example, a software development kit (SDK). Insuch examples, the monitoring functionality transmits monitoringinformation to the AME 108. In the illustrated examples of FIGS. 2and/or 3 , the example instrumented application 114, 115 includes amedia monitor 220, a monitoring data controller 230, and a useridentifier retriever 240. In addition, the example instrumentedapplication 115 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3 includes a mediapresenter 310.

The example media monitor 220 of the illustrated example of FIGS. 2and/or 3 is implemented by computer executable instructions. The mediamonitor 220 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 is downloaded with the instrumented app114 and is initiated when the instrumented application 114 is launchedon the media device 106. The media monitor 220 of the illustratedexample extracts metering data (e.g., metadata, signatures, watermarks,etc.) from the media presented by the media device (e.g., via the mediapresenter 310 of FIG. 3 or a separate application). For example, themedia monitor 220 can implement functionality provided by a softwaredevelopment kit (SDK) to extract one or more audio watermarks, one ormore video (e.g., image) watermarks, etc., embedded in the audio and/orvideo of the presented media. For example, the media may include pulsecode modulation (PCM) audio data or other types of audio data,uncompressed video/image data, etc. In the illustrated example, themedia monitor 220 identifies metadata contained in an ID3 tagtransmitted as part of and/or in association with the presented media.In the illustrated example, the ID3 tag includes media-identifyingmetadata and/or source-identifying metadata. Example methods andapparatus to transcode watermarks into ID3 tags identifiable by themedia monitor 220 are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/341,646, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/341,661, which areincorporated in their entireties.

Audio watermarking is a technique used to identify media such astelevision broadcasts, radio broadcasts, advertisements (televisionand/or radio), downloaded media, streaming media, prepackaged media,etc. Existing audio watermarking techniques identify media by embeddingone or more audio codes (e.g., one or more watermarks), such as mediaidentifying information and/or an identifier that may be mapped to mediaidentifying information, into an audio and/or video component. In someexamples, the audio and/or video component is selected to have a signalcharacteristic sufficient to hide the watermark from human detection(e.g., masked from hearing). This is sometimes referred to asstenographic encoding. As used herein, the terms “code” or “watermark”are used interchangeably and are defined to mean any identificationinformation (e.g., an identifier) that may be inserted or embedded inthe audio or video of media (e.g., a program or advertisement) for thepurpose of identifying the media or for another purpose such as tuning(e.g., a packet identifying header). As used herein “media” refers toaudio and/or visual (still or moving) content and/or advertisements. Toidentify watermarked media, the watermark(s) are extracted and used toaccess a table of reference watermarks that are mapped to mediaidentifying information.

Unlike media monitoring techniques based on codes and/or watermarksincluded with and/or embedded in the monitored media, fingerprint orsignature-based media monitoring techniques generally use one or moreinherent characteristics of the monitored media during a monitoring timeinterval to generate a substantially unique proxy for the media. Such aproxy is referred to as a signature or fingerprint, and can take anyform (e.g., a series of digital values, a waveform, etc.) representativeof any aspect(s) of the media signal(s)(e.g., the audio and/or videosignals forming the media presentation being monitored). Good signaturesare repeatable when processing the same media presentation, but areunique relative to other (e.g., different) presentations of other (e.g.,different) media. Accordingly, the term “fingerprint” and “signature”are used interchangeably herein and are defined herein to mean a proxyfor identifying media that is generated from one or more inherentcharacteristics of the media.

Signature-based media monitoring generally involves determining (e.g.,generating and/or collecting) signature(s) representative of a mediasignal (e.g., an audio signal and/or a video signal) output by amonitored media device and comparing the monitored signature(s) to oneor more references signatures corresponding to known (e.g., reference)media sources. Various comparison criteria, such as a cross-correlationvalue, a Hamming distance, etc., can be evaluated to determine whether amonitored signature matches a particular reference signature. When amatch between the monitored signature and one of the referencesignatures is found, the monitored media can be identified ascorresponding to the particular reference media represented by thereference signature that matched the monitored signature. Becauseattributes, such as an identifier of the media, a presentation time, abroadcast channel, etc., are collected for the reference signature,these attributes may then be associated with the monitored media whosemonitored signature matched the reference signature. Example systems foridentifying media based on codes and/or signatures are long known andwere first disclosed in Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,294, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

In some examples, the code/watermark itself and/or data representing thecode/watermark is transmitted with and/or in association with the mediaas media-identifying metadata. The media-identifying metadata may beformatted in a text or binary format such as, for example, an ID3 tag.In some examples, the media-identifying metadata includes thecode/watermark. However, in some other examples, the media-identifyingmetadata is derived from and/or representative of the code/watermark,and/or a signature, etc. Example methods and apparatus to transcodewatermarks into ID3 tags are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/341,646, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/341,661, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/443,596, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/793,991, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/455,961, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/793,974, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/472,170, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/793,983, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/767,548, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/793,959, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/778,108 which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

In the illustrated example of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 , the example mediamonitor 220 determines (e.g., extracts, transforms, derives, decodes,converts, etc.) the media-identifying metadata (e.g., such as mediaidentifying information, source identifying information, watermarks,codes, etc.) associated with, and/or transmitted with the media (e.g.,in an ID3 tag, in a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming(HLS) manifest, in an Moving Pictures Experts Group version 2 (MPEG2)transport stream, in a timed text track, in an encryption key associatedwith the media, etc.). The media-identifying metadata may be a code in,for example, a text or binary format located in an ID3 tag associatedwith the media. In some examples, the media monitor 220 converts themetering data into a text and/or binary format for transmission to theAME 108.

The example monitoring data controller 230 of the illustrated example ofFIGS. 2 and/or 3 is implemented by computer executable instructions. Inthe illustrated example, the monitoring data controller 230 managesrecords stored in the data store 119. For example, the data controller230 controls transmission of stored records (e.g., the collected data126), deletion of aged records, determining if a storage threshold ofthe data store 119 is exceeded, etc.

The example user identifier retriever 240 illustrated in FIGS. 2 and/or3 is implemented by computer executable instructions. The example useridentifier retriever 240 of the illustrated example retrieves the userand/or device identifier 124 from the data store 119. In some examples,the user identifier retriever 240 interacts with an operating system(e.g., Apple iOS, Google Android, etc.) to retrieve the user and/ordevice identifier 124.

The example media presenter 310 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3 isimplemented by computer executable instructions. In the illustratedexample, the media presenter 310 interacts with a QuickTime® applicationprogramming interface (API) to display media via the media device 106.While in the illustrated example, the QuickTime® API is used, any othermedia presenting framework may additionally or alternatively beemployed. For example, the media presenter 310 of the illustratedexample may interact with an Adobe® Flash® media presentation framework.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the exampleaudience measurement entity 108 of FIG. 1 . The audience measuremententity 108 of the illustrated example is a facility of an audiencemeasurement entity (e.g., the Nielsen Company (US) LLC) and includes aninterface to receive reported metering information (e.g., metadata) fromthe media device 106 via a network such as, for example, the Internet.The example audience measurement entity 108 of the illustrated exampleof FIG. 1 includes a software development kit (SDK) provider 410, amonitoring data receiver 420, a data store 430, a database proprietorinterface 440, and a reporter 450.

The example SDK provider 410 of the illustrated example of FIG. 1 isimplemented by a logic circuit such as a semiconductor (e.g., silicon)based processor executing instructions, but it could additionally oralternatively be implemented by an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field programmablelogic device (FPLD), an analog circuit, and/or other digital circuitry.The example SDK provider 410 of FIG. 4 provides instructions toapplication developers (e.g., the app publisher 110) to facilitatecreation of the instrumented application 114. In some examples, the SDKis provided such that the application developer(s) can integrate theSDK, libraries (e.g., DLLs), and/or application programming interfaces(APIs) of the SDK into existing applications. While in the illustratedexample the monitoring components are provided as an SDK, the monitoringcomponents instrumented by the SDK and/or monitoring instructionsprovided via the SDK may be provided in any other fashion. For example,the monitoring components may be provided as an application programminginterface (API), a plugin, an add-on, libraries, etc.

The example monitoring data receiver 420 of the illustrated example ofFIG. 4 is implemented by a logic circuit such as a silicon basedprocessor executing instructions, but it could additionally oralternatively be implemented by an ASIC, a PLD, an FPLD, an analogcircuit, and/or other digital circuitry. The example monitoring datareceiver 420 of FIG. 4 receives media monitoring information such as thecollected data 126 (e.g., media identifiers 122 and/or device/useridentifiers 124) from the instrumented application 114. As disclosedherein, media monitoring information may include media-identifyinginformation (e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes, signatures,watermarks, and/or other information that may be used to identifypresented media), application usage information (e.g., an identifier ofan application, a time and/or duration of use of the application, arating of the application, etc.), user-identifying information (e.g.,demographic information, a panelist identifier, a username, etc.),device identifying information (e.g., a MAC address, an IP address, adevice serial number, etc.) etc. The monitoring data receiver 420 storesthe received monitoring information in the data store 430.

In the illustrated example, the monitoring data receiver 420 implementsan HTTP interface. HTTP requests are sent with the media monitoringinformation in their payload by the instrumented application 114 to themonitoring data receiver 420. The requests may not be intended toactually retrieve media, but are instead used as a vehicle to convey themetering information. Thus, the HTTP requests may be referred to as“dummy requests.” The AME 108 is provided with software (e.g., a daemon)to extract the metering information from the payload of the dummyrequest(s). Additionally or alternatively, any other method(s) totransfer the metering information may be used such as, for example, anHTTP Secure protocol (HTTPS), a file transfer protocol (FTP), a securefile transfer protocol (SFTP), an HTTP and/or HTTPS GET request, an HTTPand/or HTTPS POST request, etc.

In the illustrated example, the example monitoring data receiver 420stores and analyzes the monitoring information received from theinstrumented application(s) 114 from different media devices. Forexample, the example monitoring data receiver 420 may sort and/or groupmetering information by media publisher 120 (e.g., by grouping allmetering data associated with a particular media publisher 120, and/orassociated with a particular instrumented application 114). Any otherprocessing of media monitoring information may additionally oralternatively be performed. In some examples, the monitoring datareceiver 420 adds a timestamp to the media monitoring information uponreceipt. Timestamping (e.g., recording a time that an event occurred)enables accurate identification and/or correlation of media that waspresented with the demographics of the user(s) of the media device(s).

The example data store 430 of the illustrated example of FIG. 4 may beany device for storing data such as, for example, flash memory, magneticmedia, optical media, etc. The data store 430 of the illustrated exampleof FIG. 4 stores monitoring information received at the monitoring datareceiver 420 (e.g., the collected data 126, etc.). However, the datastore 430 may additionally or alternatively store any other information.Furthermore, the data stored in the data store 430 may be in any dataformat such as, for example, binary data, comma delimited data, tabdelimited data, structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. Whilein the illustrated example the data store 430 is illustrated as a singledatabase, the data store 430 may be implemented by multiple databases,and/or be stored in multiple memory locations of the media device.

The example database proprietor interface 440 of the illustrated exampleof FIG. 4 is implemented by a logic circuit such as a hardware processorexecuting instructions, but it could additionally or alternatively beimplemented by an ASIC, a PLD, an FPLD, an analog circuit, and/or otherdigital circuitry. The example database proprietor interface 440requests demographic information 139 (e.g., the user information 102 ofFIG. 1 ) from the database proprietors 104. In the illustrated example,to request such information the database proprietor interface 440transmits device/user identifiers 124 to the database proprietor 104. Inthe illustrated example, the example database proprietor interface 440implements a database driver such as an Open Database Connectivity(ODBC) driver to communicate with the database proprietor. However, anyother method of communicating with the database proprietor mayadditionally or alternatively be used such as, for example, HTTPcommunications, FTP communications, SQL queries, etc.

In some examples, the database proprietor interface 440 transmits asingle device/user identifier 124 at a time. However, to protectprivacy, the database proprietor 104 may respond to such requests fordemographic information 139 in the aggregate and require a minimumthreshold of device/user identifiers 124 to sufficiently mask thedemographic information associated with any single particular deviceand/or user. In the illustrated example, the minimum threshold is onehundred device/user identifiers. However, any other minimum thresholdmay additionally or alternatively be used such as, for example, twohundred device/user identifiers, one thousand device/user identifiers,ten thousand device/user identifiers, etc.

The example reporter 450 of the illustrated example of FIG. 4 isimplemented by a logic circuit such as a central processing unit (CPU)executing instructions, but it could additionally or alternatively beimplemented by an ASIC, a PLD, an FPLD, an analog circuit, and/or othercircuitry. The reporter 450 generates reports indicative of mediaexposure metrics and/or application usage metrics (e.g., ratings,impressions, etc.) based on one or more different types of clientdevices (e.g., personal computers, portable devices, mobile phones,tablets, etc.). For example, the reporter 450 compiles media exposuremetrics based on the correlation of the media-identifying information,the application usage information, and the user-identifying information.A report is then generated to indicate media exposure and/or applicationusage statistics. In some examples, the exposure measurements provideratings information for different media (e.g., a particular televisionshow, a particular website, a particular movie, etc.) In some examples,the exposure measurements indicate ratings information and/or usagestatistics for different instrumented applications.

Additionally or alternatively, popularities of different types of mediaacross different device types may be reported. Such different types ofmedia may be, for example, news, movies, television programming,on-demand media, Internet-based media, games, streaming games,advertisements, etc. Such comparisons may be made across any type(s)and/or numbers of devices including, for example, cell phones, smartphones, dedicated portable multimedia playback devices, iPod® devices,tablet computing devices (e.g., an iPad®), standard-definition (SD)televisions, high-definition (HD) televisions, three-dimensional (3D)televisions, stationary computers, portable computers, Internet radios,etc. Any other type(s) and/or number of media and/or devices may beanalyzed. The report may also associate the media exposure metrics withdemographic segments (e.g., age groups, genders, ethnicities, etc.)corresponding to the user(s) of the client device(s). Additionally oralternatively, the report may associate the media exposure metrics withmetric indicators of the popularity of the artist, genre, song, title,etc., across one or more user characteristics selected from one or moredemographic segment(s), one or more age group(s), one or more gender(s),and/or any other user characteristic(s).

In some examples, the media exposure metrics are used to determinedemographic reach of streaming media, ratings for streaming media,engagement indices for streaming media, user affinities associated withstreaming media, broadcast media, and/or any other audience measuremetric associated with streaming media and/or locally stored media.While in the illustrated example, the media exposure metrics are used toprovide information for streaming media, the media exposure metrics maybe used to provide information for any other type of media such as, forexample, websites, non-streaming media, etc. In some examples, the mediaexposure metrics are audience share metrics indicative of percentages ofaudiences for different applications and/or types of applications thataccessed the same media. For example, a first percentage of an audiencemay be exposed to news media via a browser application, while a secondpercentage of the audience may be exposed to the same news media via anews reader application.

Although for simplicity, the above discussion focuses on a single mediadevice 106, a single instrumented app 114, a single media publisher 120,a single app source 112, and a single AME 108, any number of any ofthese elements may be present. For example, in a typical implementation,it is expected that multiple app sources will offer multiple differentinstrumented apps to the public at large. Thus, it is expected thatthere will be many media devices accessing such apps, and that asignificant portion of the users will use such instrumentedapplications. Thus, it is expected that there will be many instances ofthe above processes conducted across many devices at the overlappingand/or distinct times. Thus, for example, there may be manyinstantiations of the machine-readable instructions disclosed in theabove flowcharts operating at the same or different time. Some of theseinstances may be implemented as parallel threads operating on a samedevice.

While an example manner of implementing the audience measurement entity(AME) 108 of FIG. 1 and/or the instrumented application 114 of FIG. 1 isillustrated in FIGS. 2, 3 , and/or 4, one or more of the elements,processes and/or devices illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3 , and/or 4 may becombined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implementedin any other way. Further, the example media presenter 310, the examplemedia monitor 220, the example monitoring data controller 230, theexample user identifier retriever 240, and/or, more generally, theexample instrumented application 114, 115 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 , and/orthe example SDK provider 410, the example monitoring data receiver 420,the example data store 430, the example database proprietor 440, theexample reporter 450, and/or, more generally, the example AME 108 ofFIG. 4 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or anycombination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example,any of the example media presenter 310, the example media monitor 220,the example monitoring data controller 230, the example user identifierretriever 240, and/or, more generally, the example instrumentedapplication 114, 115 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 , and/or the example SDKprovider 410, the example monitoring data receiver 420, the example datastore 430, the example database proprietor 440, the example reporter450, and/or, more generally, the example AME 108 of FIG. 4 could beimplemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits,programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of theapparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example mediapresenter 310, the example media monitor 220, the example monitoringdata controller 230, the example user identifier retriever 240, and/or,more generally, the example instrumented application 114, 115 of FIGS. 2and/or 3 , and/or the example SDK provider 410, the example monitoringdata receiver 420, the example data store 430, the example databaseproprietor 440, the example reporter 450, and/or, more generally, theexample AME 108 of FIG. 4 is/are hereby expressly defined to include atangible computer readable storage device or storage disk such as amemory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-raydisk, etc. storing the software and/or firmware. Further still, theexample instrumented application 114 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 , and/or theaudience measurement entity 108 of FIG. 4 may include one or moreelements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIG. 4 , and/or may include more than one of any or allof the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions forimplementing the example instrumented application 114, 115 of FIGS. 2and/or 3 , and/or the example audience measurement entity 108 of FIG. 4are shown in FIGS. 5, 6 , and/or 7. In these examples, the machinereadable instructions comprise a program(s) for execution by a processorsuch as the processor 812 shown in the example processor platform 800discussed below in connection with FIG. 8 . The program may be embodiedin software stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium suchas a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk(DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 812,but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively beexecuted by a device other than the processor 812 and/or embodied infirmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program isdescribed with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 ,and/or 7, many other methods of implementing the example instrumentedapplication 114, 115 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 , and/or the example audiencemeasurement entity 108 of FIG. 4 may alternatively be used. For example,the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of theblocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 5, 6 , and/or 7 maybe implemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory(ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals. As used herein, “tangible computerreadable storage medium” and “tangible machine readable storage medium”are used interchangeably. Additionally or alternatively, the exampleprocesses of FIGS. 5, 6 , and/or 7 may be implemented using codedinstructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions)stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium suchas a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compactdisk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/orany other storage device or storage disk in which information is storedfor any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, forbrief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of theinformation). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readablemedium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readabledevice or disk and to exclude propagating signals. As used herein, whenthe phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in a preamble of aclaim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” isopen ended.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart representative of example audience measuremententity 108 and/or the example instrumented application 114, 115 of FIGS.1, 2, 3 , and/or 4. The example program 500 of FIG. 5 begins when theSDK provider 410 provides a software development kit (SDK) to the apppublisher 110 (block 510). The SDK enables the application publisher 110to create the instrumented application 114. In the illustrated example,monitoring functionality is provided via an SDK. However, monitoringfunctionality may be provided via, for example, an API, a programminglibrary, a dynamically linked library (DLL), a plug-in, an add-on, etc.

In the illustrated example, a user of the media device 106 instructs themedia device 106 to install the instrumented application (block 520). Inthe illustrated example, the media device 106 installs the instrumentedapplication 114 from an app source 112 such as, for example, AppleiTunes, Google Play, etc. In some examples, the instrumented application114 is provided directly to the media device 106 via, for example, awebsite, a mailed compact disc, etc. In some examples, the instrumentedapplication 114 is provided to a media device manufacturer and/orreseller. In examples where the instrumented application 114 is providedto the media device manufacturer, the media device manufacturer maydesign (e.g., develop, produce, manufacture, etc.) the media device withthe instrumented application 114 as an integrated component. In exampleswhere the instrumented application 114 is provided to the reseller, thereseller may install (e.g., modify, alter, adapt, etc.) the instrumentedapplication 114 on the media device 106 at or prior to the time of saleof the media device to the retailer and/or to the end user (e.g., theconsumer).

When executed by the media device 106, the instrumented application 114gathers configuration information (block 522). In the illustratedexample of FIG. 5 , configuration information instructs the instrumentedapplication 114 as to how the instrumented application 114 shouldoperate. For example, application publisher(s) may wish toenable/disable the use of census style measurement, enable/disable theuse of panelist style measurement, and/or enable/disable the collectionof demographic information from the database proprietors in theaggregate and/or individually. In some examples, applicationpublisher(s) may wish to disable media monitoring functionality of theinstrumented application 114 entirely. Furthermore, in some examples theapplication publisher(s) may wish to allow the user to select how theinstrumented application operates 114 via, for example, an opt-in and/oran opt-out. That is, users may be able to override the configurationinformation and, instead, instruct the instrumented application 114 asto how the instrumented application 114 should operate with respect toenabling/disabling census style measurement, enabling/disabling paneliststyle measurement, and/or enabling/disabling collection of demographicinformation from the database proprietors in the aggregate and/orindividually. Users may override the configuration information because,for example, local privacy laws may restrict the collection ofmonitoring information, the user may object to being monitored, etc.

In the illustrated example, the instrumented application 114 gathers theconfiguration information via the Internet. In the illustrated example,the configuration information is provided as an electronically readablefile (e.g., an extensible markup language (XML) document, a text file,etc.). In some examples, the instrumented application 114 retrieves theconfiguration information from the application publisher 110. However,in some other examples the instrumented application 114 retrieves theconfiguration information from another location such as, for example,the app source 112, the audience measurement entity 108, etc. However,in some examples, the configuration information is stored locally on themedia device 106. In some examples, the locally stored configurationinformation is editable and/or modifiable by a user and/or anapplication operated by a user. In some examples, the locally storedconfiguration information is included as part of the instrumentedapplication 114. That is, the configuration information is included aspart of the instrumented application provided by the app source 112. Theapplication publisher 110 may then modify the configuration informationvia, for example, an application update.

In the illustrated example, the configuration information is gatheredeach time the instrumented application 114 is started. However, in someexamples, the configuration information is gathered at another time suchas, for example, when the instrumented application 114 is installed,when the instrumented application 114 is updated, at the request of auser, periodically (e.g., every hour, once a week, monthly, etc.), etc.

The instrumented application 114 then inspects the configurationinformation to determine whether census style measurement is enabled(e.g., a flag associated with census style measurement is set) (block524). As described above, when census style measurement is used, theuser is identified using the device and/or user identifier. When censusstyle measurement is enabled, control proceeds to block 530. In someexamples, the configuration information may indicate that census stylemeasurement is disabled (block 524). If census style measurement isdisabled, the instrumented application 114 inspects the configurationinformation to determine whether panelist style measurement is enabled(e.g., a flag associated with panelist style measurement is set) (block526). As disclosed above, when panelist style measurement is enabled,the user is identified using an AME-provided panelist identifier. Ifpanelist style measurement is enabled, (block 526), control proceeds toblock 532. In some examples, the configuration information indicatesthat neither census style measurement nor panelist style measurementshould be enabled. In such an example, the instrumented application 114takes no further monitoring action(s) as the configuration informationindicates that monitoring should not be enabled. Any manner of enablingand/or disabling the various modes may be used. For example, a firstflag may be used to indicate whether any form of monitoring is used anda second flag may be set to a first state to indicate panelist stylemonitoring, and to a second state to indicate census style monitoring.

If census style measurement is enabled (block 524), the instrumentedapplication 114, when executed by the media device 106, collects and/orreports media monitoring information (e.g., the collected data 126) tothe monitoring data receiver 420 of the AME 108 (block 530). In examplesdisclosed herein, media monitoring information includes, but is notlimited to, media identifying information (e.g., media-identifyingmetadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information thatmay be used to identify presented media), application usage information(e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/or duration of use ofthe application, a rating of the application, etc.), and/or the deviceand/or user identifier (e.g., an Apple ID, demographic information, ausername, a device serial number, a MAC address, an IP address, etc.).Further, the media monitoring information may include an indication ofthe permission given by the user and/or the application publisher 110.For example, the configuration information may indicate that censusstyle measurement is used. Furthermore, the configuration informationmay indicate whether the demographic information of the user may beretrieved from the database proprietor on an individual and/or aggregatebasis. That is, different application publishers 110 and/or differentusers may select different permissions. For example, a first user and/orapplication publisher 110 may enable census monitoring with demographicinformation being collected from the database proprietor(s) on anindividual basis, while a second user and/or application publisher 110may enable census monitoring with demographic information beingcollected from the database proprietor(s) in the aggregate. To enablethe example ratings entity to carry out the wishes of the user and/orapplication publisher, the example media monitoring information includesone or more indicators (e.g., flags) indicating whether demographicinformation may be collected from the database proprietor(s)individually and/or in the aggregate.

If panelist style measurement is enabled (block 526), the instrumentedapplication 114, when executed by the media device 106, collects and/orreports media monitoring information (e.g., the collected data 126) tothe monitoring data receiver 420 of the AME 108 (block 530). In examplesdisclosed herein, media monitoring information includes, but is notlimited to, media identifying information (e.g., media-identifyingmetadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information thatmay be used to identify presented media, an ID3 tag), application usageinformation (e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/orduration of use of the application, a rating of the application, etc.),and/or an AME-provided identifier (e.g., a panelist identifier,demographic information, a biometric identifier, personally identifiableinformation, etc.) Further, the media monitoring information may includean indication of the permission given by the user and/or the applicationpublisher 110.

In the illustrated example, after the AME 108 receives the mediamonitoring information from the media device 106 implementing censusstyle measurement, the database proprietor interface 440 sends thedevice/user identifier(s) to the database proprietor 104 as a requestfor demographic information (block 540). In some examples, the databaseproprietor interface 440 sends multiple received device/user identifiersassociated with an impression for the same media ID. By requestingdemographic information from the database proprietor 104 in theaggregate, demographic information for any single user is madeanonymous. Additionally or alternatively, the database proprietorinterface 440 may send a single device/user identifier associated withan impression for the media ID, to receive demographic information on anindividual basis.

In the illustrated example, after the AME 108 receives the mediamonitoring information from the media device 106 implementing paneliststyle measurement, the AME 108 determines demographic informationassociated with the device and/or user identifier 124 (block 542). Inthe illustrated example, the demographic information is stored in, forexample, the data store 430.

Based on the returned demographic information and/or the locallydetermined demographic information, the reporter 450 of the AME 108generates a report based on the association of the media monitoringinformation (e.g., impressions for a particular media) and the receivedand/or determined demographic information (block 550). The report may,for example, indicate a demographic breakdown of the types of users towhich different media presented.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example instrumentedapplication of FIGS. 1, 2 , and/or 3. The example program 600 of FIG. 6begins when the example instrumented application 114 is installed. Inthe illustrated example, the application 114 is installed via an “appstore” (e.g., Apple iTunes, Google Play, etc.). However, the application114 may be installed in any other fashion. For example, the application114 may be preinstalled on the media device (e.g., present at the timethe media device was purchased). In some examples, the example program600 of FIG. 6 begins when the example instrumented application 114 isexecuted. The example instrumented application 114 may be executed when,for example, a user clicks on an icon associated with the instrumentedapplication 114. In examples disclosed herein, the instrumentedapplication 114 is to perform a function unrelated to audiencemeasurement (e.g., a game function, a media presentation function, anews presentation function, etc.) The instrumented application 114 maybe any type of app including, for example, a game, a widget, a newsreader, a browser, etc.

The media monitor 220 waits until a media event is detected (block 610).Media events may be triggered when, for example, the media presenter 310begins playing a video, the media presenter 310 displays an image (e.g.,an advertisement), the instrumented application 114 is restarted, etc.If a media event is not detected (block 610), the media monitor 220continues to wait for a media event.

While in the illustrated example monitoring does occurs regardless ofwhether the user has given explicit permission to be monitored, in someexamples, monitoring may occur only when the user has given permissionto be monitored. A consent indicator may be stored in a memory of themedia device 106 to indicate whether the media monitor 220 has the usersconsent to be monitored. When permission has not been granted, themonitoring functionality (e.g., the media monitor 220) may stilloperate. However, the collected monitoring information is nottransmitted to the AME 108. That is, the monitoring functionality of theinstrumented application 114 may operate, but not transmit collectedmonitoring data unless consent is received. Once consent is received,the monitoring data controller 230 may transmit the previously collectedmonitoring information to the AME 108 (as well as future monitoringinformation). In other words, the user's consent may be retroactive inthat it authorizes previous monitoring activity.

If a media event is detected (block 610), the media monitor 220determines a media identifier associated with media presented by theinstrumented application 114 (block 615). In the illustrated example,the media monitor 220 extracts media-identifying metadata from an ID3tag transmitted in association with the presented media (see, forexample, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/341,646, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/341,661, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/443,596, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/793,991, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/455,961, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/793,974, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/472,170, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/793,983, U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/767,548, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/793,959, and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/778,108). In some examples, the media monitor220 determines the media identifier by extracting, decoding, etc. acode, a signature, and/or a watermark embedded in the presented media.

The example user identifier retriever 240 retrieves the device/useridentifier from the data store 119 (block 620). In the illustratedexample, the device/user identifier is an Apple ID, however any otherdevice/user identifier may additionally or alternatively be used. Inexamples disclosed herein, the device/user identifier persists acrossmultiple applications. While in the examples disclosed herein, thedevice/user identifier is an Apple ID, any other identifier that isretrieved in any other fashion may additionally or alternatively beused. For example, an AME 108 provided identifier retrieved from apasteboard and/or memory of the media device 106, a database proprietorprovided identifier stored as a cookie on the media device 106, etc. maybe used.

The monitoring data controller 230 then creates a timestamp (block 625).Timestamping (e.g., recording a time that an event occurred) enablesaccurate identification and/or correlation of media that was presentedwith the user(s) using the media device 106 at that time. Usage of themedia device 106 may be identified in any desired manner.

The monitoring data controller 230 of the illustrated example thencreates a record including the media identifier (e.g., the mediaidentifier obtained at block 615), the device/user identifier (of block620), and the timestamp (of block 625). In some examples, the recordincludes one or more indicators (e.g., flags) indicating, for example,whether census style measurement was enabled, whether panelist stylemeasurement was enabled, whether demographic information may becollected from the database proprietor(s) individually and/or in theaggregate, etc. In the illustrated example, the record is formatted as acomma separated value (CSV) record. However, any other type(s) and/orformat(s) of record may additionally or alternatively be used. Forexample, the record may be formatted as an extensible markup language(XML) record.

The example monitoring data controller 230 of the illustrated exampledetermines whether the record should be transmitted to the audiencemeasurement entity 108 (block 630). In some examples, records arestreamed to the audience measurement entity 108 as they are identifiedand/or created. If the example monitoring data controller 230 is totransmit the record to the audience measurement entity 108 (block 630),the monitoring data controller 230 transmits the record to the audiencemeasurement entity 108 (block 640). In some examples, records are storedin the data store 119 so that they may be transmitted in a singletransmission (e.g., a single HTTP request, a single file transferprotocol (FTP) command, etc.). If the example monitoring data controller230 is not to transmit the record to the audience measurement entity 108(block 630), the record is stored in the data store 119 by themonitoring data controller 230 (block 635).

The monitoring data controller 230 of the illustrated example determineswhether a storage threshold of the data store 119 has been met orexceeded (block 645). In the illustrated example, the thresholdrepresents an amount of time that records may be stored in the datastore 119 before being transmitted to the audience measurement entity108. Records may be stored for, for example, one hour, one day, oneweek, one month, etc. However, any other type of threshold mayadditionally or alternatively be used such as, for example, a storagelimit (e.g., 1 kB, 64 kB, 1 MB, etc.). If the storage threshold isexceeded, the monitoring data controller 230 transmits the storedrecords to the audience measurement entity 108 (block 640). The mediamonitor 220 then continues to wait for media events from the mediapresenter 310 (block 610). If the storage threshold is not exceeded, themedia monitor 220 continues to wait for media events from the mediapresenter 310 (block 610).

While in the illustrated example, a storage threshold is used todetermine when to transmit monitoring information, any other way ofmaking such a determination may additionally or alternatively be used.For example, monitoring information may be transmitted to the audiencemeasurement entity 108 at a fixed interval (e.g., 30 minutes, 3 hours, 1day, 1 week, etc.), monitoring information may be transmitted inresponse to an external event (e.g., user pushes a synchronize button,the audience measurement entity 108 requests updated monitoringinformation, the instrumented application 114 is started, theinstrumented application 114 is exited, etc.).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example audiencemeasurement entity of FIGS. 1 and/or 4 to retrieve and/or credit mediaimpressions with demographic information. Initially, the monitoring datareceiver 420 receives the collected data 126 (e.g., the media ID and theuser/device ID) (block 710). Demographic information requested from thedatabase proprietors is requested in the aggregate and, accordingly, thedatabase proprietor interface 440 aggregates user/device identifiersassociated with a single media ID so that the demographic informationcan be requested.

The database proprietor interface 440 then transmits a request to thedatabase proprietor 104 along with the device/user identifiers (block720). In the illustrated example, the database proprietor interface 440requests demographic information for a given set of device/useridentifiers to a single database proprietor 104. However, the databaseproprietor interface 440 may request demographic information frommultiple database proprietors in an effort to receive more completedemographic information. For example, different database proprietorsusing different user registration models may have different demographicinformation available. For example, a social media registration modelmay have demographic information related to user's race, interests,location, etc. while a credit reporting registration model may havedemographic information related to a user's financial information (e.g.,income, credit score, etc.). Such different database proprietors may beused in combination to generate more thorough demographic and/orexposure measures in association with the presented media.

The database proprietor interface 440 receives one or more of the userinformation 102 a-e from one or more of the partner databaseproprietor(s) 104 a-e (block 730). Based on the received media ID(s),the monitoring data receiver 420 logs a media impression for the mediaID 122 (block 740). In addition, the monitoring data receiver 420associates the user information from at least one of the one or moreuser information 102 a-e with the logged impression for the media ID 122(block 750). The example process 700 of FIG. 7 then ends.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 800 capableof executing the instructions of FIGS. 5, 6 , and/or 7 to implement theexample instrumented application 114, 115 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 , and/orthe example audience measurement entity 108 of FIG. 4 The processorplatform 800 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, amobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as aniPad™), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVDplayer, a CD player, a digital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, agaming console, a personal video recorder, a set top box, or any othertype of computing device.

The processor platform 800 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 812. The processor 812 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 812 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers fromany desired family or manufacturer. Thus, for example, the processor maybe implemented by a silicon and/or other semiconductor based processor.

The processor 812 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 813(e.g., a cache). The processor 812 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 814 and anon-volatile memory 816 via a bus 818. The volatile memory 814 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatilememory 816 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desiredtype of memory device. Access to the main memory 814, 816 is controlledby a memory controller.

The processor platform 800 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 820. The interface circuit 820 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 822 are connectedto the interface circuit 820. The input device(s) 822 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 812. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, acamera (still or video), an infrared remote, a keyboard, a button, amouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, and/or a voicerecognition system.

One or more output devices 824 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 820 of the illustrated example. The output devices 824 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a light emitting diode (LED), a printer and/or speakers).The interface circuit 820 of the illustrated example, thus, typicallyincludes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip or a graphicsdriver processor.

The interface circuit 820 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network826 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 800 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 828 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 828 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAIDsystems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.

The coded instructions 832 of FIGS. 5, 6 , and/or 7 may be stored in themass storage device 828, in the volatile memory 814, in the non-volatilememory 816, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a CD or DVD.

Although certain example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus, and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scopeof the claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: at least one memory;first instructions in the apparatus; and processor circuitry to executethe first instructions to: instruct a media provider to include secondinstructions in an application to create an instrumented application;receive data from a media device based on the media device executing thesecond instructions, the second instructions to cause the media deviceto: access configuration information to instruct the instrumentedapplication on the media device to operate in at least one of a firstmode or a second mode, the second mode different from the first mode;access a media identifier corresponding to a media presentation eventwhen monitoring functionality is enabled on the instrumentedapplication; determine a second identifier to identify at least one ofthe media device or a user of the media device when the monitoringfunctionality is enabled, the second identifier assigned by a firstentity when the instrumented application is to operate in the firstmode, the second identifier assigned by a second entity when theinstrumented application is to operate in the second mode, the firstentity separate from the second entity; and send the media identifier inassociation with the second identifier to the second entity when themonitoring functionality is enabled.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the second instructions are to cause the media device to accessthe media identifier by accessing an ID3 tag.
 3. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the processor circuitry is to execute the instructions todetermine, based on the configuration information, whether demographicinformation associated with the second identifier may be collected on atleast one of an aggregate basis or an individual basis.
 4. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the second instructions are to cause the mediadevice to send an indicator in association with the media identifier,the indicator to indicate whether demographic information associatedwith the second identifier may be collected on at least one of anaggregate basis or an individual basis.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4,wherein the second instructions are to cause the media device toconfigure the indicator to cause the second entity to request thedemographic information from a database proprietor using a plurality ofthird identifiers associated with the media identifier when theindicator indicates that the demographic information may be collected onthe aggregate basis, the plurality of third identifiers to identify atleast one of second media devices or second users of the second mediadevices.
 6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the second instructionsare to cause the media device to configure the indicator to cause thesecond entity to request the demographic information from a databaseproprietor using the second identifier associated with the mediaidentifier when the indicator indicates that the demographic informationmay be collected on the individual basis.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the media identifier is a first media identifier, the secondinstructions to cause the media device to transmit a second mediaidentifier in association with the second identifier to the secondentity when the monitoring functionality is enabled, the second mediaidentifier associated with a second media presentation event occurringprior to the enablement of the monitoring functionality.
 8. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising firstinstructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause theat least one processor to at least: instruct a media provider to includesecond instructions in an application to generate a monitoring enabledapplication; receive data from a media device based on the media deviceexecuting the second instructions, the second instructions to cause themedia device to: access configuration information to instruct amonitoring enabled application on the media device to operate in atleast one of a first mode or a second mode, the second mode differentfrom the first mode; access a media identifier corresponding to a mediapresentation event when monitoring functionality is enabled on themonitoring enabled application; determine a second identifier toidentify at least one of the media device or a user of the media devicewhen the monitoring functionality is enabled, the second identifierassigned by a first entity when the monitoring enabled application is tooperate in the first mode, the second identifier assigned by a secondentity when the monitoring enabled application is to operate in thesecond mode, the first entity separate from the second entity; and sendthe media identifier in association with the second identifier to thesecond entity when the monitoring functionality is enabled.
 9. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein thesecond instructions are to cause the media device to access an ID3 tagas the media identifier.
 10. The non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are to cause the at leastone processor to determine, based on the configuration information,whether demographic information associated with the second identifiermay be collected on at least one of an aggregate basis or an individualbasis.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim8, wherein the second instructions are to cause the media device to sendan indicator in association with the media identifier, the indicator toindicate whether demographic information associated with the secondidentifier may be collected on at least one of an aggregate basis or anindividual basis.
 12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumof claim 11, wherein the second instructions are to cause the mediadevice to configure the indicator to cause the second entity to requestthe demographic information from a database proprietor using a pluralityof third identifiers associated with the media identifier when theindicator indicates that the demographic information may be collected onthe aggregate basis, the plurality of third identifiers to identify atleast one of second media devices or second users of the second mediadevices.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim11, wherein the second instructions are to cause the media device toconfigure the indicator to cause the second entity to request thedemographic information from a database proprietor using the secondidentifier associated with the media identifier when the indicatorindicates that the demographic information may be collected on theindividual basis.
 14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumof claim 8, wherein the media identifier is a first media identifier,the second instructions are to cause the media device to transmit asecond media identifier in association with the second identifier to thesecond entity when the monitoring functionality is enabled, the secondmedia identifier associated with a second media presentation eventoccurring prior to the enablement of the monitoring functionality.
 15. Amethod to monitor media presented on a media device, the methodcomprising: instructing a media provider to include second instructionsin an application to create an instrumented application; receiving datafrom the media device based on the media device executing the secondinstructions, the second instructions to cause the media device to:access configuration information to instruct the instrumentedapplication on the media device to operate in at least one of a firstmode or a second mode, the second mode different from the first mode;access a media identifier corresponding to a media presentation eventwhen monitoring functionality is enabled on the instrumentedapplication; determine a second identifier to identify at least one ofthe media device or a user of the media device when the monitoringfunctionality is enabled, the second identifier assigned by a firstentity when the instrumented application is to operate in the firstmode, the second identifier assigned by a second entity when theinstrumented application is to operate in the second mode, the firstentity separate from the second entity; and send the media identifier inassociation with the second identifier to the second entity when themonitoring functionality is enabled.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinthe accessing of the media identifier includes accessing an ID3 tag. 17.The method of claim 15, further including determining based on theconfiguration information whether demographic information associatedwith the second identifier may be collected on at least one of anaggregate basis or an individual basis.
 18. The method of claim 15,wherein the second instructions are to cause the media device to send anindicator in association with the media identifier, the indicator toindicate whether demographic information associated with the secondidentifier may be collected on at least one of an aggregate basis or anindividual basis.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the indicator isto cause the second entity to request the demographic information from adatabase proprietor using a plurality of third identifiers associatedwith the media identifier when the indicator indicates that thedemographic information may be collected on the aggregate basis, theplurality of third identifiers to identify at least one of second mediadevices or second users of the second media devices.
 20. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the indicator is to cause the second entity to requestthe demographic information from a database proprietor using the secondidentifier associated with the media identifier when the indicatorindicates that the demographic information may be collected on theindividual basis.